Tuesday, February 27, 2024

Just the usual helping of stuff and nonsense

 Sometimes I forget how easy it is to only have three kids. The boys were at an overnight speech tournament, so Ben and I took the little 3 out to dinner, and it was just plan fun. Even though! It's not like the boys are hard to handle at restaurants (LOL). It's just easier to be a smaller party, I guess.



We even went out for dessert at a different place. WHO ARE WE?

For all of my complaining about the driving and the weekends, I am sad to see the end of hockey season approach because Coop has loved it. Luckily diving season is in full swing, and he has not one but TWO baseball teams kicking off practices. So-- still plenty to complain about.







Here's a mom hack for you! I refreshed our kitchen table craft basket with some spring focused stickers, washi tape, pompons, etc, and some pastel markers and new paint and bam! A whole weekend of busy!



Other random tidbits:

Jack is taller than I am by a lot now
GROCERIES ARE SO EXPENSIVE. We have really not noticed inflation very much because our bill is always so high, but the last few weeks have been off the charts!! OR the price has been in line with before times, but the quantity has been smaller. Like, I will for sure have to do a midweek shop or go to Costco, etc. Bah humbug, but it hasn't changed our shopping habits-- just made us complain more.

Dorothy! Is a wonderful lunch date! Must do this more often-- note to self.

One more complaint because WHY NOT-- I broke a dinner plate yesterday, so now we only have 6 matching plates, and there are 7 of us, so I absolutely HAD to buy more, except they were Mikasa from Costco and now Costco has a different pattern are you freaking KIDDING ME. The Mikasa website had a 4-pack of plates, but we also need 2 cereal bowls, 3 fruit bowls, and 2 salad plates, ALL OF WHICH ARE OUT OF STOCK. **shakes fist at universe**


In happy news, Harry was awarded 2 really excellent academic scholarships from the system school in WI that I have been secretly hoping he would pick all along and is much closer to a final choice!! Incredible :)







14 comments:

  1. Harry! That's an "incredible" feat and photograph. All the photos are so, so cute. Dorothy's expression in that squeezy hug-kiss is priceless, and that's a forever photo for sure.

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    1. i love that picture so much!

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  2. Congrats to Harry!!!
    I cannot imagine what your grocery bills look like; I know what mine look like and I have half as many people (kind of exactly since M is home only once or twice a week, the rest of the time he's on campus).

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    1. so much money. I just spent ANOTHER $50 on a pick up order of shelf-stable packed lunch stuff. We ran out on Wednesday LOL

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  3. Oh yay for Harry!!! Groceries are SO EXPENSIVE. Omg. It hasn't changed my spending habits either, but I do whine a lot about it. (And there are only three of us!)

    The plates thing would drive me crazy. You can't have one person eating off of a different plate?!?! Get it together, Costco!

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    1. I KNOW. I ordered more dinner plates, and I joined a waitlist for the other pieces (WTF).

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  4. I am 100% with you on groceries. I couldn't put my finger on it, but you nailed it. I know food is more expensive, but I hadn't noticed or pinpointed items that were jacked up, because our food bill is so ridiculous anyway. I sort of tune out what the total is now and I sure as hell am not adjusting. Who has time for that? The fam is hungry. I feed them. That's all I have time for.

    When we redid our kitchen my mom let me pick out new plates as her treat/Christmas gift. We bought SO many plates, because even without a crystal ball I knew they'd be broken, gradually. I'm so bummed for you. That's irritating.

    It is sometimes so nice to divide and conquer, or at least divide and eat out. ;)

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    1. I do the same re: food, and it is a lovely privilege, I guess, and one I have never really examined before.

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  5. Ooh! That's exciting about Harry... can't wait to see where he decides to go. It's such a relief when you can make it definite.
    I can't even imagine how much your groceries must be. Especially with all those teenage boys!!! When my son is home, I swear my grocery bill doubles. When it's just the three of us, I feel like I'm getting off easy.
    HOW are Minnie's cheeks so, so rosy???

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  6. Have you ever checked out Replacements dot com? You can get just a few pieces there, and it's both fancy patterns and every day, dishes, flatware, glasses.

    YAY! on the scholarships! That's fabulous! I'm looking forward to hearing which school he chooses.

    I haven't changed our grocery habits either, and I know what a gift that is. My mom was very much a "rice and beans, generic everything, why the hell would you buy individual sized items when you can buy in bulk and save" person. She was a single mom who never made much, so even though there were only two kids, money was tight. So I know how to do it if I have to, and I'm thankful that I don't.

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  7. Woohoo - congrats to Harry!

    Groceries are ridiculous and I just realized that the cat food I buy was $9 more in February than it was in January, and I just CANNOT WITH THIS. Arghhhhh.

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  8. Anonymous6:51 PM

    This is Lisa. Congrats to Harry! That is so awesome about the scholarship money and being closer to a final decision! The plate conundrum would drive me nuts!

    Btw I referenced your skin care post today when I was at the mall with Paul so I could buy the caffeine serum. Hoping it helps a bit with my awful under eye circles!!

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  9. Chiming in to also say: grocery prices are getting completely out of hand. I don't even know how you feed such a large family. I feel like we're blowing the budget for two people.

    Also: a kitchen table craft basket. Who doesn't need one of those!

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